Page 99 of Rebellious

“I think that’s awfully presumptuous of you.”

He shrugs, his smile never fading. “Possibly, but I have a shark in my back pocket who could talk him into it.”

I shake my head. “I took the Boston job, I’m not an agent anymore.”

My father throws his head back. “That’s not what Cooper Lexington told me.”

I open my mouth and close it. “Well, I promised his brother a favor.”

“And Madsen?”

He’s referring to Jake. “I’d already promised him I would find him a deal. How do you know about Jake, anyway?”

He rolls his eyes. “Believe it or not, Thad and I do talk occasionally.”

Uncle Thad. “What a traitor.”

“That he is. However, it got me thinking.”

“Thinking about what?” I ask.

He pulls something from his pocket—a set of keys. “What on earth am I supposed to do with this empty office building I just bought?”

My chest locks up as I see the keys dangling from his fingers. “You bought me an office?”

“I did. No daughter of mine is going to throw away talent by being a sideline reporter.” He pushes the keys into my palm. “You are an agent, Aspen Von Bremen. And no man is going to drive you away from that dream.”

I cry. I don’t mean to. Honestly, I think hearing the truth just brought it all forward. I was giving up my dream to get away from Bennett. “I—I can’t be near him.”

My father shrugs. “Then don’t, but you aren’t running. Von Bremens don’t run away from our problems. We ignore them.”

I laugh, snuggling into his chest.

“So, can we leave now? Your mother is texting me. She can’t wait to spend money on apartment and office shit.”

Bonding is only fun naked

Bennett

My skin is on fire.

Whether that fire be from the eight times I’ve traced the rule she left on my skin or I’m allergic to this pen; regardless, I can’t bring myself to wash it off. All I can do is stare at the rounded letters she left me as a reminder.

Our time together has ended.

She wasn’t wrong to end it.

She deserves someone better. Someone who can love her openly, as if every day was summer vacation. I couldn’t be that man. No matter how much I longed to be, our circumstances wouldn’t allow it.

And now, after years of having her at my side, I’m alone. Her toothbrush still sits on her side of the vanity, her shampoo in my shower. I’m trapped in a nightmare with no way out.

Everything I see reminds me of the last rule she inked. The only one that ever mattered. There’s no exception. Not this time.

I scratch the inside of my forearm; the burning is, more than likely, a direct result of the anxiety coursing through my system.

Don’t come for me.

“Fuck!” I throw the pen and it bounces off the wall of my master bathroom. I couldn’t bring myself to stay at the lake house without her. So I tossed what I could find in a suitcase, and drove home, leaving Fenn and Drew to clean up.

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